


Lots of Love, Lotty

by pwr



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Ambulon lives au, F/F, Femslash, Following canon mostly (aside from the x lives aus), Friends to Lovers, General amica squad shenanigans, Multi, Mutual Pining, Nightbeat lives au, Noncanon Pronouns, Not compliant to OP and Unicron, Not compliant to issue 25, Pipes lives au, Post-Canon, Ravage lives au, Rung lives au, Sex, Skids lives au, There is sex. beware, Trailcutter lives au, Trans whirl, i changed my mind about the other dead, not at this very moment but i'll remove this tag when there is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-07-04 18:34:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15846999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pwr/pseuds/pwr
Summary: The Lost Light has turned back around; they're going back on their neverending quest in a new universe! With new and old friends, the Nautisquad settles back in on the ship for another few years of adventure. Things behind the scenes get interesting; Nautica has never quite been a romantic, but recent events have drawn her gaze onto a certain someone...





	1. The Wonderful World of Endura; Conjunx or Otherwise

“Have I ever had a sparkmate? You’ve been hanging out with Nightbeat, haven’t you?”

Two mechs sat surrounded by datapads strewn randomly across the ground, with a couple empty model ship boxes and energon goodies in the mix. Nautica laughed, peeking above her datapad copy of  _ The Outsiders _ at her amica. Rung smiled back, clearly meaning it in jest. He lowered his datapad of  _ 1984 _ to make eye contact.

It had been several hours of this; asking each other ‘Have you ever’s and ‘Remember when’s, reading Earth classics, and building model ships. By nature, it wasn’t quite a ‘Book Club’, but that was the excuse they used to meet up like this. Rung brought the models and sweets, and Nautica brought the books. 

Neither remembered quite how they landed on the topic of love. But when you combine the relationship-obsession of Caminus with the interpersonal indifference of Cybertron, conversations about romance get interesting.

Rung habitually removed his glasses, “Yes. A very long time ago. We weren’t quite conjunx endura, but we were… something.”

“I think you may have mentioned that, come to think. Uh… Trepan? Was his name Trepan?” Nautica asked.

“No, no. His name was Froid. We had to keep it under wraps. It was highly unprofessional to have a relationship with your peers.” Rung reached for an energon cube, “It wasn’t anything very remarkable.”

“Friends with benefits?” 

“I suppose you could say that. Skids used a much more crude word to describe it.”

Nautica glanced at the box of energon, and almost as if he read her mind, Rung passed it within Nautica’s reach. She selected a couple rust sticks. 

“I don’t exactly miss it at all. He did almost kill Skids, after all.” Rung slid the box back towards him to grab a rust stick as well, “What about you?”

“Pft, what ABOUT me?” She teased.

“It would be plain rude to ask me that then refuse to answer.” Rung couldn’t help but giggle through his sentence.

“Well, yes and no. Back on Caminus, some of us in the sorority would meet up to… Ah, well… What’s it called again? When everyone just meets up and interfaces?” Nautica pierced a cube with her claw.

“An orgy.” 

“Yeah, that. So physically, yes. Emotionally, no.” 

“So  _ that’s _ why Firestar calls you Naughty Nautica.” 

Nautica tried to fake a grimace at the nickname, but cracked a smile. Rung smiled back. There was a lot of smiling in this ‘Book Club’, usually a book club is pretty serious discussion of literature. But as they were already aware, this was just an excuse to hang out and talk about whatever the hell they wanted. 

“Javelin and Chromia, to be specific. Only ever partnered up with them.” Nautica laughed, “Anyways, I’ve got another Nightbeat Brand question: Interested in anyone right now?”

Rung made a so-so gesture with his hand, “Yes, but it’s definitely one sided. What about you?”

“Oh! I have a list! I can list off all the mechs I’d like as a sparkmate.” Nautica clapped her hands together, “Ok so, Velocity… Uh…”

Rung quirked an eyebrow.

“I, ah, actually only have one person on my list then.” She turned her head away bashfully.

“Nautica, are you only interested in fembots?” Rung asked.

Nautica paused. Was she only interested in other fembots?

“I never really thought about it, honestly. I just kind of… Yes. I just never really examined that.” She said.

“Nothing wrong with it. I know Lug and Anode are the same way. Then again, they only really have eyes for each other.” Rung placed a comforting hand on one of Nautica’s turbines.

“...Who were you interested in again?” Nautica tried to divert the topic.

“Okay, well, don’t laugh, but…”

 

* * *

 

 

“So, love, huh?”

Brainstorm glanced up from vigorously scrubbing the purple paint from the inside of his faceplate. The question had clearly caught him off guard.

“You’re so right. It sure does exist.” Brainstorm waggled a finger in the air.

“Not what I meant at all.” Nautica sat beside him, “You’ve been in love. I’d even say you’re currently in love. So, what about it? How do you know?”

“What’s all this about?” Brainstorm shot Nautica a devious smirk, “Am I that notorious of a hopeless romantic?”

“No, that title would go to Cyclonus.” Nautica laughed, “So, Perceptor. You’re clearly looking at him like he’s everything.”

Brainstorm perked his wings at the mention of the other scientist, eliciting a giggle from Nautica.

“What isn’t there to love about him? He’s intelligent, handsome, and best of all, he can kill you on the spot!”

“He sure can, can’t he?”

“Yes, it’s a very admirable trait. You’d never think it just by looking at him that he’s a stone cold sniper, but he is! He’s like a geode, except he’s also beautiful on the outside. So, just like a normal chunk of gemstone, I guess. Ruby or sapphire, or both.”

“He’s more of an opal, the kind that shifts colors as you move it. Speaking of that, you know, sapphire always reminds me of Lotty. She’s either that or a diamond.”

Brainstorm blinked a couple times before putting his faceplate back on. Even with it on, Nautica could tell he was grinning at her. The kind of grin that just screams ‘Oh, I see what this is about’. The kind of grin you give someone who insists they like someone platonically only.

“Ok first, I called dibs on Percy. Second, Lotty, hm?” Brainstorm counted down his points on his fingers.

“Oh no, Perceptor is a delight to work with, and that’s really it.” Nautica waved a hand dismissively, “And, yes, Lotty.”

“She sure spends a lot of time with Swerve.” He noted, “It’s a little strange, innit? I mean, SWERVE? Surely there’s better mechs for her.”

Apparently, Brainstorm hadn’t actually made the connection. Maybe the spark of the idea had ignited in his mind, but it fizzled out with thoughts of Perceptor. Either way, Nautica’s face fell slightly. Velocity really did spend quite a bit of time with Swerve nowadays. She never mentioned anything about it to Nautica, but her mind still ran in circles, tying the strings together.

“Hey, be nice.” Nautica forced a smile, “Hey, Stormy? Hand me that datapad?”

Brainstorm passed the pad over. Nautica raised a claw and began writing on it as they continued their conversation. She wrote down a few names. Rung, Skids, Velocity, Nautica, Brainstorm, Nightbeat, Swerve, and Perceptor. Then, she started drawing arrows with hearts to indicate fondness.

On the chart, there was an arrow from Rung to Skids, from Skids to Swerve, from Brainstorm to Perceptor, from Nightbeat to Rung, from Velocity to Swerve with a question mark beside the heart, and a blank space between Nautica and Velocity’s names. She had successfully deduced they were all lovelorn messes. What completely new information nobody definitely already knew!

Nautica stared down the empty space between her and Velocity’s names. Dare she draw an arrow? No, she cared too much about whether or not it’d freak Lotty out, despite apparently not caring about freaking out her other amicas by charting their romantic inclinations.

“What’s that?” Brainstorm plucked the pad out of Nautica’s hand rather than waiting for a response. 

He analyzed it for a moment before chuckling, “Seriously? Rung never told me that.”

“He doesn’t tell people a lot of things. Except Nightbeat. He tells Nightbeat quite a lot.” Nautica grabbed her datapad back.

“You sure he doesn’t like good ol’ Beaters back?”

“Please never call him that again.”

“What else do I call him? Beaty? En-Bee? Nighters?”

“How about his actual name?”

“How about no?”


	2. Pros and Cons of the Medbay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotty goes through a bit of turmoil.

The medbay was positively buzzing with activity. Two brand new medics, fresh off the vagabond lifestyle, had joined the medical scene of the Lost Light. Spinister and Nickel were receiving their on-ship training. Naturally, many a mech were worried about having Decepticons treating them. The war may have been over, but suspicions and stereotypes still flew like flies. 

Many bots check-ups were prioritized on a list according to how accident-prone they were, their tenacity, and general other factors. Near the top of the list was Swerve, with his position glued there by the Swearth incident. Velocity had forced the other doctors to continually check up on him. 

Now, Swerve was seated on a medical slab, getting prodded and examined by Nickel.

“Anyone ever tell you your outer coat is in impeccable condition?” Nickel noted, not looking up from the other minibots leg.

“He’s a metallurgist,” First Aid explained, “Frankly, I’d be concerned if his outer coat actually did have anything wrong with it.”

Swerve held back a smile, but quickly transitioned to a grimace when Nickel pressed a spot on his knee. She glanced to First Aid.

“Bad joint?”

“He stands a lot. There’s no stool for him at the bar.” 

Velocity turned her head. A few feet away, she stood with Spinister, welding a piece of kibble back on Misfire’s head. Concern immediately struck her.

“What? Swerve, you know better!” Velocity scolded, but Swerve just grinned back.

“There’s no time! Do I look like Rodimus to you; having time to just sit and slack off?” He laughed.

“Far as I’m concerned, that’s all you do anyways.” Nickel grumbled, siphoning oil to lubricate the achy joint.

“Swerve. Swerve. ‘Ey, Swerve.” From his own slab, Misfire leaned over in his direction, “I know something you can sit on.”

“Shut UUUUP-!” Swerve broke down laughing, barely being able to reach Misfire to shove him.

Velocity exhaled in amusement, but Nickel rolled her optics. For Velocity, it was basically like having two Swerves. For Nickel, it was like having an extra Scavenger. It was heaven and hell for the medics respectively.

“He always so crude?” Velocity bent over to whisper in Nickels audial.

“Yeah. He’s gotten worse since he met the red one over here.” Nickel explained, “Never had to deal with the dirty jokes in my day. None of my patients had any inclinations towards each other.”

“...You mean the members of the DJD?” Velocity raised an eyebrow ridge.

The fembots fell silent. Nickel’s past wasn’t quite up for discussion. Though the Lost Light had a bit of a reputation for rehabilitating mechs after Megatron joined, some considered Nickels involvement with the DJD inexcusable, especially those close to Rewind. She seldom mentioned it, and Velocity assumed that was because she had little to no regrets about it. In that way, she was a lot different than Megatron. Though, Nickel insisted she never killed anyone herself.

“...Anyways, how’s your conjunx?” Nickel raised her voice slightly, unnoticed by the bickering Swerve and Misfire.

“My what now?” Velocity blinked.

“Your, ah, your conjunx? The purple one with the visor?” Nickel glanced over, a bit befuddled by her response.

“...Nautica isn’t my conjunx. We’re amica endura.” Velocity spoke slowly and smoothly, throwing a metaphorical tarp over her urge to cover her face.

**_THUD._ **

Swerve was on the floor. Misfire had stood up and shoved him off his slab. God only knows what Swerve had said to prompt that.

“SETTLE DOWN! I swear, you two are like juvenile turbofoxes!” Nickel yelled, pinching Misfire’s cheek and staring down Swerve.

* * *

 

Some hours passed, and the medbay had fallen quiet. First Aid was refilling some vials of medical grade energon, Ratchet was on the phone with Ultra Magnus, Nickel and Spinister were discussing the antics on Mederi, and Velocity was reviewing Tailgates medical charts. The subtle buzz of activity amongst the doctors was normal; those working together to save lives tended to gravitate closer together. 

Velocity placed the medical chart back down and picked up the more concerning paperwork. It was an application to become a medic, signed by Megatron. Ratchet had wanted no part in it, handing it off to Velocity without question. Spinister had signed off on it, but Nickel and First Aid were hesitant. They needed the signatures of all the current medics to allow him into the medbay, and she wasn’t sure if they’d ever get  _ everyone _ on board with Megatron patching bots up. 

Even Velocity herself was hesitant. Sure, she had missed the war, but she felt Megatron was genuine enough of a person to trust with a life. Some of her dearest friends disagreed, and that is why she didn’t sign on it. First Aid watched the DJD kill one of his friends. Rewind watched the DJD kill  _ all _ of his friends. And there was only one mech to blame for the DJDs entire existence.

It was a bit strange, for her friends to forgive Nickel but not Megatron. But Velocity was slightly biased in the warlords favor. Perhaps it was because Nickel stayed in the back lines, away from the battles the DJD began. Nobody had seen Nickel’s chubby, cute little face as they died.

“OUT OF THE WAY, OUT OF MY WAY, GORGEOUS BACKPACK ON THE LINE!” The shout broke Velocity out of contemplation.

Anode burst into the medbay, Lug under one arm. Energon dripped from Lugs mouth, and Velocity rushed over.

“She ate a glass.” Anode sputtered.

“...What?” Velocity paused.

“She at-”

“No I heard you, but, what?”

Velocity was already helping Lug onto a medical slab and wiping energon from her lip. 

“One of the ‘cons dared her to eat a whole glass of energon.” Anode softly rubbed the back of Lugs neck.

“And, of course, she actually did it.” Velocity groaned, “You two are horrible, horrible little women, you know that?”

“Oh, I’m aware.” Lug giggled, before pulling a stray shard of glass from her dentae.

“I mean it. Swerve showed me this movie once,  _ Gremlins _ , and I could swear it was secretly written with you two in mind.” Velocity placed an apparatus to keep Lugs mouth open, and delicately began picking out shards of glass that pierced the fragile mesh.

“I won, though. Won the bet.” Lugs vocalizer buzzed behind her closed mouth, unaffected by the busywork.

“You sure did, poppet.” Anode placed a chaste kiss to Lugs helm.

Lug lifted her arm, interlacing her fingers with Anodes. They were awfully alright with the situation, almost as if they’d done worse. Anodes gaze was tender and loving, admiring Lug even as Velocity’s entire hand was in there, fishing out a larger chunk of glass wedged in her throat. 

Disgustingly, disgustingly cute. Velocity could almost gag. Almost, but her overwhelming jealousy held her back. Nothing to do with Lug or Anode particularly, but what they had; a sweet, mutual, genuine love that had never graced Velocitys life personally. She knew having a conjunx would get in the way. In a way, she was married to her work. But the aching in her spark didn’t cease. If only, if only there was space in her life for…

“Nickel?” Velocity called, “Nickel, can you come weld up this awful little minibots mouth for me?”

“Coming, coming!” Nickel called back, speeding along her leg wheels. 

Velocity handed the welding tools to Nickel, and immediately turned and walked away.

“She ok?” Nickel looked to Lug, only to get a shrug in response.

She turned a corner, and leaned against a wall. Velocity needed a moment to be alone, more alone than she usually was. Seeing such close sparkmates hurt. It hurt in a way Velocity could never begin to put into words. It triggered the realization that fundamentally, she may never have a joy like that. The joy of being so close to another mech, close enough to tell them ‘I love you’ with a single look. Again, lost in contemplation, Velocity sighed. She interlaced her own claws together, staring down at them. It wasn’t like she hadn’t held hands before, but she hadn’t  _ like that.  _

“Lotty?”

Velocity jumped, and whipped around to see Ratchet. He had a thumb hooked in his pelvic plates, looking concerned.

“Yeah?” Velocity forced a smile.

“Doing ok? I saw you hand off Lug to Nickel.” He walked forward, tilting his helm slightly.

“Never better.” 

Ratchet didn’t seem to budge in his worry. It wasn’t like Velocity to get so lost in thought, that was true. The whole ‘single’ thing usually didn’t bother her so much. She didn’t know what was wrong with her.

“It’s just… Lug and Anode, huh? Seems like they were forged for each other. Not often you get to see two bots joined at the hip like that.” Velocity sighed.

“On the Lost Light, it is pretty often.” Ratchet began counting off on his fingers, “Cyclonus and Tailgate, Chromedome and Rewind, Swerve and Misfire evidently…”

“Point taken. Just… Makes me wish I wasn’t single sometimes.” She said.

Ratchet groaned, “Young mechs. Always pining over someone.”

Velocity blinked.

“I never said I was pining over someone.” She put a hand on her hip.

“I know that look, Lotty. That was the look of someone who has another someone in mind.” Ratchet sounded disciplinary, but he was still smiling.

“Ratchet, I’ve no time to be interested in someone. It’s busy here.”

He went blank for a moment, then nodded, “Say hello to Lug for me.”

The elder medic walked off without another word, and Velocity found herself alone once again. 

Man, she needed a drink.

Maybe Nautica wanted one too…

* * *

“Two engex.” First Aid placed his shanix card on the counter, “They’re on me today.”

Nickels optics widened, “Really? I thought you-”

“I’ve made mistakes; blaming people for things that weren’t their fault.” First Aid turned to her, “I blamed myself for what Pharma did, and I blamed you for what happened to Trailcutter. Consider it a peace treaty. Protectobot-Decepticon solidarity.”

“That’s sweet of you, First Aid.” Nickel slid her drink closer to her when it was poured, “Not used to filtered energon myself.”

“That’s disgusting.” First Aid clicked off his faceplate and smiled.

The two laughed, and clicked their drinks together.

“So, Lotty. Is she always so grumpy?” Nickel inquired, swirling her engex.

“No. Not at all. She’s practically an angel most of the time, save if you’re being  _ really  _ stupid.” First Aid explained, “Must’ve just gotten fed up with Lug today. Most folks do.”

Nickel nodded solemnly and sipped her drink. The buzz of the bar doors sounded, followed by giggles and mutters. Nautica and Velocity entered Swerve’s, mumbling to each other as they sat at a booth. Swerve, knowing the fembots orders by heart, poured two glasses and brought them over to them. Nickel and First Aid watched the whole time, analyzing the pairs actions. From an outside perspective, their relationship was… odd. Nautica caressed Velocitys cheek. Velocity placed a hand on Nauticas turbine. Laying heads on shoulders, interlacing their clawed servos, laughing and being close.

“...I thought Lotty said Nautica wasn’t her sparkmate.” Nickel tapped the counter, “Are you sure they’re amica?”

First Aid looked from the pair, to Nickel, and back. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Lifted a finger to accentuate a point, then lowered it. A red servo laid on his faceplate, rapping it impatiently as he thought. 

“Taking a while to answer.” Nickel thought aloud.

“So here’s the thing about that…”

“Do you not know?”

“Hand on god? I don’t. I really don’t.”


	3. Bonds Painted Golder Than They Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nautica recovers from a girl's night out.

 

When you’re a part of the minority, you sometimes need a group night to just talk and feel the solidarity. The fembots of the Lost Light had met up in Visages to do just that. Just like the minibots’ secret club meetings, the fembots liked to have each others company over a few drinks. Lug, Anode, Velocity, Nautica, Nickel, and Whirls small circle were seated around a table, each with a different type of engex to her name.

“But doesn’t every bot change names at least once?” Nickel asked, “Almost everyone I know has.”

“My point is I didn’t choose to change my name.” Whirl answered, “And isn’t Jetstream just a cool name? Maybe I should change it back. Jetstream; Queen of being put in the brig.”

“I like Whirl, though.” Anode said, “It suits you.”

“Oh!” Whirl made a noise of surprise, “If I had a face, I’d be blushing. If I had a face, I’d be doing a lot of things. Most blushing.”

“Hey, before I forget…” Lug raised her glass, “Here’s to Whirl being one of us. And, while we’re at it, managing not to make a single joke about dying today!”

“Damn, I forgot to do that, didn’t I? Um… This engex would be better if it was poisoned with... deadly poison.” Whirl glanced down.

“Is there any other type of poison?” Velocity giggled, clinking her drink with Nautica and Nickel.

The girls all laughed amongst themselves in a way that would sound catty to an outsider, but warm and genuine to their own. Nautica, Nickel, and Velocity were huddled closer than the other three, telling stories and enjoying themselves. Lug, Anode, and Whirl were in their own world of discussing societal expectations and getting in serious trouble with Ultra Magnus.

“Y’know, First Aid bought me a drink the other day. Said it was a kind of a proposal for peace between factions.” Nickel said.

“Aw, that’s sweet. He’s been trying to let go of the past.” Velocity replied, smiling.

“I’m not used to nice things like that, so it was… Yes, it was nice.” Nickel smiled back.

“...Hm?”

“Hm?”

“You’re not used to nice gestures? Could you elaborate?”

Nickel stared blankly for a moment before finally processing the question. Her expression immediately fell. She looked down to her drink and didn’t look back up.

“...Not much kindness back in the Division. One moment Tarn’s pouring you a drink, the next he’s threatening to snap Vos like a twig.” Nickel murmured, “We had rules, regulations, safety precautions… All my idea. Tarn only kept them up for appearances. If we had some semblance of order, it was easier for Tarn to convince himself he cared about his team.”

She smiled again, “I mean, it wasn’t all bad. It was pretty nice on the Peaceful Tyranny, and Tarn definitely cared about  _ me _ . When Vos, erm, the third Vos we had, when we found out he was Agent 113… It’s stupid to think back, but I begged Tarn not to torture him. I said we could just have him there and not let him leave, kind of like… Well, like a pet. Of course, he took that literally. Never told me what he did, I thought he’d had mercy and just killed him. He said he found a turbofox outside and let Kaon keep it. I found out from Chromedome what- _ who _ the Pet really was.

It’s funny to look back on it now. It wasn’t even an overall bad experience, they were my family! But, it’s still funny. Can you imagine me on my knees begging for my life? That’s what I did when Tarn found me. I probably looked so pathetic. He was going to kill me, but Kaon reminded him that the Division needed a medic.”

Nautica and Velocity were completely silent. Nickel eventually looked up from her glass.

“...I mean, I’m probably wrong. Tarn may have convinced himself so well that he did start caring about everyone. He was very nice to Tessie and Helex. Pretty nice to Kaon, except for… Well, the whole killing him thing.” Nickel waved her hands, speaking rapidly.

The two amicas remained silent with wide eyes. Nautica had covered her mouth. The sheer horror of Nickels story practically ebbed off them.

“...You should really see someone about that. Rung, I mean. You should see Rung.” Nautica finally lowered her hand to speak.

“Why?” Nickel tilted her helm.

Everything fell quiet again, save for the buzz of the other three fembots in their own conversational bubble. Nautica and Velocity knew Nickel had been through a lot, and they had been under the impression Nickel joined by choice. 

“Stockholm.” Nautica whispered in Velocitys audial, “She fell in love with her captors. She doesn’t regret a thing because she doesn’t think they did anything wrong.”

“She’s defending the DJD. She really thinks the DJD were her friends.” Velocity whispered back in a tone that was both amazed and absolutely rife with pity.

“It’s rude to whisper about someone in front of them.” Nickel pouted.

“Rung’s retired, but it’d do you good to see him.” Velocity explained, “Has anyone ever told you that… Tarn was horrible to you?”

“...No.” Nickel blinked.

A buzz filled the air, followed by the crackling of a personal comm coming to life.

“Nickel? Are you there? We need you at the medbay.” Ratchets voice sparked through.

“Coming! Sorry, I’ll talk to you girls later.” Nickel got up, wheeling off in a hurry to see her superior.

Velocity and Nautica looked at each other for a beat.

“You know, come to think, maybe that’s why First Aid forgave her. She never chose to be with the DJD.” Nautica mused.

“It was Tarn, or her life.” Velocity added.

“Big n’ small are boring me, whatcha guys up to?” Whirl craned her neck over, prompting laughter and defensive jokes from Lug and Anode, “We mocking shortstack in her absence? I want in.”

“We’re not mocking her, Whirl. She’s had a horrible, traumatic experience she’s trying to cope with.” Nautica sighed, lifting her drink.

“Hey, same hat. Was it same hat or same boat? Whatever. What, does she think she’s special or something? We’re all suffering here!” Whirl began rambling drunkenly, “We all got trauma. She’s not special, does she think she’s special, because she’s not, she’s not special.”

“Whirl.” Velocity warned.

“Hey so fun fact, a very funky fresh fact, I lost three extremities. She’s got all hers intact. So do you. So do tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum over there,” Whirl motioned to Lug and Anode, “Wow, you have it so tough. Baby blue has it so tough, poor little her.”

“WHIRL.” Velocity shouted, leaning over the table, “That’s enough. I wouldn’t make fun of your suffering, and you shouldn’t make fun of Nickels.”

“I’m just saying, some people have it worse! Not specifically me, but I mean… Rewind. Not to use him as a prop, but I’m using him as a prop.” 

Velocity stood up suddenly. She poured the remainder of her drink into Nauticas cup, and walked towards the exit of Visages.

“I’m going to go talk to her. She needs to see someone about this.” With that, Velocity left.

Lug and Anode ogled at the remaining party.

“She gets like this when she’s drunk. Sorry.” Nautica placed a clawed hand on Whirl’s cockpit, “You should go to your habsuite.”

Whirl only nodded her helm, and stumbled out of the bar, followed by a bickering Lug and Anode. The trio had really seemed to hit it off with their collective taste for mischief, be it life-threatening or for the sake of comedy. Nautica rustled in her subspace for a moment, pulling out her datapad chart. Using a point of her servo, she wrote in Nickels name. Between Velocity and Nickel, she drew an arrow and a question mark. It was just to be safe. On the Lost Light, any expression of fondness could mean anything.

With a heavy spark, Nautica pocketed her chart. Her drink, now a mix of two different grades of engex, sat untouched for the remainder of the night. 

“That was… a scene.”

Nautica looked up. Rung stood over her table, hands folded together. He had a warm face, with a familiar brand of concern he always held for those clearly not feeling their best.

“Sure was.” Nautica nudged herself over, allowing a seat for Rung. He sat beside her, placing down his own drink. Just from the color, Nautica could tell it was very strong.

“I thought you didn’t really drink.” Nautica pointed at his drink.

“Special occasion.” Was all Rung said.

“What’s the occasion?”

“Being sad.” 

Rung laughed. Nautica did not laugh.

“You and me both, I suppose.” She added, squinting down at her engex. It was tainted now. Velocity’s barely-filtered drink was swirling a different color in the glass.

Rung clicked his cup against Nauticas. There was no reason to, but it was a silent sign of understanding. 

“So why’re you feeling bad?” He asked.

“I’d say I don’t know to pretend that I’m just kind of melancholy, but it’s pretty hard to lie to _ you. _ ” Nautica smiled, “It’s Nickel. Actually, it’s really Lotty, but Nickel is objectively more important. She told us something pretty horrific, and we want her to see you about it.”

“What was it about Lotty?” Rung asked.

“Well, like I said, Nickel. Nickel had to-”

“I asked you about  _ Velocity. _ ”

Rung had fallen strangely serious, but he caught himself and waved a hand, “I mean, I’ll speak to Nickel later. You’re the one sitting here with me, not Nickel.”

“Well, it’s… Ah… I’m going to sound like a sparkling, but…” Nautica nervously scratched the table.

“You’ll feel better if you say it.” Rung said.

“I don’t know if I’m happy being amicas with Lotty. I mean, I am. I’d rather be her amica than nothing at all. But it’s-”

“You’d rather be something more intimate with her.”

“ _ Yes! _ ” She burst out, “I mean, yes.”

“Well, on Caminus, you said you have to be amica before you become conjunx. You’re both Camien, what’s the problem? You’re right on track.” Rung sipped his engex, wincing a little at the sudden burn it brought. He was clearly forcing himself to finish it.

“I don’t know if she’d want to be conjunx, or even that sort of weird not-sparkmates-but-still-in-love phase.” Nautica explained, “There’s Swerve, lately there’s been Nickel… She’s probably more interested in one of them.

“You know, my past amica, Firestar… We had an ambiguous relationship. We almost tied the knot back in the day. She was incredibly lonely, and would take anyone to be her sparkmate. I was the same way. Mutual desperation does things to what you believe your feelings to be. It’s been so long since I was ‘with’ another person, maybe I’m just getting desperate again. I’ve never been surrounded by so many lovebirds since the sorority, maybe I’m just catching the love bug. It’s probably nothing.

...Well, I just rambled on for no reason, didn’t I?” Nautica smiled and clapped her hands together, “You’re upset too. Why are _ you  _ down?”

“Usually, one wouldn’t be so self aware if it was just desperation drawing them to somebody.” Rung said.

“...I asked you about  _ you _ .”

“And I chose to ignore it. So, Firestar-”

“Oh no you don’t, you son of a bitch!” Nautica practically slammed her hand over Rungs, “You’re not going all reserved therapist on me. I’m not letting that happen, you need to talk about your emotions too! I’m not letting this relationship turn into your emotional labor.” 

Nautica fumbled for a moment to intertwine her fingers with Rungs own. Rung stared a moment before removing his glasses to show weary, appreciative eyes. She smiled, threw an arm around Rung, and pulled him into her frame. Some mechs glanced, stared, or even whispered, but Nautica didn’t mind. She felt she was allowed to show her own amica affection if she wanted to.

“I’m not used to speaking my mind.” Rung mumbled, “Nightbeat wants me to open up more. I already poured my spark out to him, and it was probably the first time I’ve done so in several thousand years.

Being forgotten all the time wears on you sometimes. I know I sacrificed my memorability on my own, but sometimes it just… Yes, it just wears on one.”

“Of course it does.” Nautica reassured him, “I can tell you now you’re everyones favorite god, you know? You’re definitely  _ my _ favorite. Whirls favorite, Cyclonus’ favorite, Skids’ favorite, Nightbeats favorite… You need to remember nobody makes the conscious decision to forget you. We all love you to bits.”

Rungs motors purred as he was coaxed into laying his head on Nauticas shoulder. It wasn’t very often the old mech got any form of love, and even platonic cuddles like this were very much appreciated to him. Nautica remembered what it was like to be so touch starved, and she didn’t want one of her dearest friends to feel unacknowledged.

They stayed close the whole night, talking through Rungs feelings, his past, and his struggles. Eventually Visages closed for the night, and the two fairly drunk friends departed.

“Can I just stay at your habsuite tonight? Mine’s too far of a walk.” Rung, feeling his drink harder than Nautica was, leaned on her for support.

“Of course. You’re always welcome there.” Nautica put a hand on Rungs shoulder to keep him from swaying.

Nautica unlocked her suite door and released Rung, letting him stumble a bit before finding himself resting on her recharge slab. She hadn’t really offered to let him sleep there, but she wasn’t about to let him sleep on the floor, either. 

In the hall, two voices buzzed. Nautica couldn’t help but overhead.

“I’m just saying, it’s a bit more private if we talk chirolinguistics while we walk.” It was Tailgate, padding down the hallway.

“You’re just saying that because you want to hold my hand.” Cyclonus’ voice sounded next.

“You don’t know that!” Tailgate tried to sound aghast, but his voice cracked with laughter.

Cyclonus, for once, smiled and made an amused noise, “You don’t need an excuse to do that, little one.”

Nautica got up and peeked through her habsuite door. Sure enough, Cyclonus was midway through taking Tailgates hand and interlacing their fingers. Gently, Cyclonus rubbed Tailgates thumb with his own. She couldn’t help but be reminded of herself, looking at the purple and clawed hand. Her mind filled in the blanks, placing Velocity in Tailgates place. It hadn’t occurred to her, that she always did the rubbing thing with Velocity when they held hands. She held hands with all her amicas, that was normal. But she never quite added the intimacy of caressing their hand with her own servo, unless it was Lotty, and she did the same for Nautica.

It was probably nothing, right? It was probably just a ‘them’ thing, that they did the same thing one of the Lost Lights patron couples did. Nautica snuck back into her room, where Rung was already offline. An idea came to her; ask an old friend about it to confirm it was a totally normal, friendly action.

Javelin had a conjunx. She could definitely confirm that Camiens were just like that.

Nautica revved up her holographic communications center on her desk, and typed in Javelins serial number. It glowed, straining her optics, before the image of her old sororitymate appeared.

“Look, it’s a bit busy on the-OH! Hey, Nautica! What’s up?” Javelins eye lit up seeing her friend.

“Javes! I had a question for you. You have a sparkmate, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Ok, disclaimer: I’m a bit drunk right now. But I have this friend, right? I realized we’re pretty close.  _ Close _ close. Some of the conjunxs on the ship do a lot of the stuff we do, like kiss, sleep together sometimes…” Nautica began counting off on her fingers, “Get drinks together a lot, rub ones shoulders and back when they’re upset, did I already say kiss, hug for more than 10 seconds, etcetera.”

“Nautica, if you ask me what I think you’re about to-” 

“That’s normal for friends, right? Even if we’re amicas too.”

Javelin grimaced, squinting her eye, “Nautica, are you serious right now?”

“It’s just friendly, she’s being nice.” Nautica said.

“I swear, I’m about to turn the Vis Vitalis around and kick your ass.” Javelin ended up smiling, “You told me yourself you’d never be the clueless lovebird thinking someone’s ‘just being nice’! You told me that, and you said if you ever did, I could smack you.”

“But she  _ is _ just being nice, right?” Nautica felt her stomach drop.

“Caminus. Melee combat class. Back row. One of our classmates was complaining her crush was too nice to her when he clearly liked her. You turned to me, and you said, and I quote, ‘Javes, if I ever turn out being that oblivious, you are cordially invited to slap the slag out of me’.” Javelin hit her hand with her fist to accentuate.

“...But-”

“I’ll do it. Don’t test me, sweetspark. Anyways, I’m needed at one of the habsuites, there’s a situation. If you call me again and you two aren’t talking about feelings I’ll absolutely go Whirl on you.” The call cut out immediately.

Nautica sat for a moment in her room. All was silent aside from the quiet hum of Rungs frame recharging. Javelin had been… blunt, to put it lightly.

Perhaps she should talk to Lotty. In the morning, though. Nautica curled up beside the other mech, slinging an arm across his chassis. 

Definitely in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whorl gorl


	4. An Intervention of Generic Proportions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The amica squad tries to set Velocity and Nautica up.

There were two places on the Lost Light you never messed with. One was Whirls habsuite. The other was Brainstorms lab. As full of dangerous weapons, unfinished experiments, and a general air of confusing mathematical formulas as it was, nobody except Perceptor and Brainstorms amicas ever entered. Tonight, it sat empty, save for the few mechs lounging around in a circle, each sitting in a manner that fit their demeanors. Rung, Brainstorm, Skids, and Nightbeat were gathered for one express purpose...

...To set Velocity and Nautica up on a date.

“So we take the most left-brained fembot on Caminus, who has the brain of a scholar but the social sense of a three legged turbofox…” Brainstorm was holding a marker, drawing a crude doodle of Nautica on a whiteboard, “And we need to convince her to go on a date without tipping her off as to what’s going on. So, on one hand…”

“On one hand, she’s Camien. They’ve got a bloody arsenal of basic relationship knowledge. Not to mention she’s a genius.” Skids pointed out, waggling a finger.

“Yes, and on the other hand, she’s never actually had a sparkmate before, and she believes Velocitys feelings to be platonic.” Rung added, “If she couldn’t figure out that Velocity feels the same, there’s a good chance this plan’ll work.”

“Do we have confirmation Lotty likes her?” Brainstorm made a new, even worse drawing of Velocity.

“I was having a drink with Swerve-” Skids began.

“You? Drinking? Unheard of.” Nightbeat quipped.

“Shut up. Anyways, I was with Swerve, and you know he runs his mouth. I suppose Velocity had clued him in that she was thinking about Nautica, and of course that goes in through one ear and straight out his mouth.” Skids finished.

“And I spoke to Nickel.” Rung leaned forward, “We got on the topic of the two after a fairly rigorous discussion of her past. Nickel says Velocity’s acted off for the past couple weeks after she mistook Nautica for her conjunx endura.”

“That’s about as good as a ‘yes’ we’ll get, I suppose.” Brainstorm drew a line between the two drawings on the board and did a pinpoint turn on one heel to face the rest, “So, how exactly do we do this?

I came up with a couple different ideas. I  _ brainstormed _ a bit, if you will,” There were a few groans in response to the pun, “So my first question was, ‘How did the couples of the ship get so close?’. Then I threw that in the trash, because I’m pretty sure all of them have had at least 2 near death experiences drawing them together. So back at square one, getting the two of them on a date.”

Brainstorm drew a (actually fairly accurate) Lost Light on the board, “We’re stopping on a nearby planet to refuel and get more energon in two days. I researched the planet, and it’s supposedly a tourist trap for its beautiful crystal pools. One of them is about 10 miles from the city we’re landing in. My idea is this: One of us forges two letters, one to Nautica and one to Lotty, addressed from the other, asking them to meet at the cliff face over the pools. They meet up, have a good time, and boom! That’s a date!”

Rung raised his hand.

“Now, I don’t mean to be offensive, Brainstorm, but there’s a couple holes in your plan.” He adjusted his glasses.

“What he means is that your plan is pretty damned idiotic. None of us can forge a letter that well, and how do we know they’ll even show up?” Skids placed a hand on Rungs shoulder, “Maybe they have plans.”

“Pocket that letter idea, yeah?” Nightbeat said, “I’ll do you one better. Let’s all just go as a group. Me, Nautica, Skids, Rung, Velocity, and you, Brainstorm. We each get an excuse to split away from the group on our way there ‘till it’s only Velocity and Nautica.”

“I’m insulted that you’d question my intellect, but at the same time you’re my amica and I love you.” Brainstorm replied.

“So are we going with Nightbeat’s plan?” Rung asked to confirm.

“Guess so.” Skids shrugged.

“Two days. Prepare your excuses!” Brainstorm tapped the board.

 

\---

 

_ Nautica, _

 

_ Brainstorm said we should all go out on Delta 5 while we’re refueling. You weren’t in when I stopped by, and you didn’t answer your Autobot commlink, so I’m leaving this datapad here to let you know to meet all of us in the marketplace in Alteron. _

_ I’ll see you there. _

_ Hopefully. _

_ If you don’t starve yourself while reading again. _

 

_ Lots of love, _

_ Lotty♡ _

 

\---

 

The Lost Light landed several hours before, and Rodimus had hopped off to negotiate fuel and energon costs. Nautica considered the datapad. She had plans to lock herself in her room and read while they refueled, but the prospect of not spending the next day or so alone was, she had to admit, the slightest bit inviting. She wasn’t familiar with the city of Alteron that they’d landed in, let alone the planet of Delta 5. Even so, she could probably find her own way to the marketplace to meet her amicas. 

Nautica, of course, ended up caving and exiting the ship to parts unknown. Delta 5 was a biomechanical planet, so she didn’t have to worry about towering over the natives like she usually did. It was a twisting, confusing journey through the city, but a particular flash of orange sitting atop blue caught her eye. 

Rung was sitting on Skids’ shoulders, keeping an eye out for Nautica. He met her gaze, and waved frantically, smiling wide. Nautica pushed her way through the bustling crowd towards her friends. She was greeted with similar smiles (she’d learn the soft clicking noise of Brainstorm smiling behind his faceplate) from the rest of the group.

“We should get out of here. There’s no room for me to put Rung down.” Skids said, tapping Rung’s foot.

“I’m quite alright up here, Skids.” Rung tried to reassure him.

“I meant that I had no plans to carry you this whole trip.”

Rung flushed, covering his face as he usually did when flustered, “Yes, of course, right. I meant-For the moment, I’m fine. I wasn’t proposing you continue to carry me.”

Nautica shot Velocity a look, and the two fembots broke down in laughter, soon joined by Nightbeat, Skids, and Brainstorm. Rung only peeked through his fingers at them with hints of a smile behind his hands.

“Let’s get out of the crowds. My paint’s already been scuffed twice.” Velocity rubbed her hip, which was indeed scratched. 

Nautica nodded, and took Velocity’s hand to lead her through the crowd, followed by everyone else. 

It only now occurred to her how beautiful Delta 5 really was. The buildings were tall, crystalline and glimmering in the sunlight. Every building was a different color, a different type of crystal. Every tower in Alteron was a beautiful shade of its respective gemstone makeup; a chorus of pinks and blues and greens shimmering, loud but beautiful. Nautica couldn’t help but gawk at the glittering urban architecture, slowing down her pace to sightsee. Velocity, on the other hand, only looked towards Nautica. 

“Are you seeing this, Lotty? Rewind would love these, he’s a huge crystal nut.” Nautica suddenly turned to face the blue mech.

Velocity startled, as if shook out of some kind of trance, “Oh, yeah! He totally would.”

“Seems we’re on the right track.” Rung had bent forwards, bringing his helm closer to Skids’ own to whisper to him.

“Eyebrows, some personal space?” Skids laughed quietly.

Brainstorm took the lead of the group, walking them all out to the very edges of the city. The planet was slightly duller out in the wastes, made up of shimmering gravel with rolling hills rather than the beautiful crystal castes of the capital.

“I’ve heard there’s one sight you have to see before you leave Delta 5. There’s a cliff called Enduring Point, it overlooks this natural sea that’s full of crystal points. It’s apparently the most beautiful thing you’ll ever see.” Brainstorm waved his hands as he spoke.

“I presume we’re going to go see that.” Velocity mused, glancing towards Nautica.

“It’s a ways away. We’re better off using our alt modes to get there.” Skids noted, finally letting Rung down to the ground.

“You do realize I’m going to climb right back on you once you transform.” Rung said.

“Do you have a thing for sitting on me specifically?” Skids teased, and with a whirring of his gears morphing into his car mode.

“My alt mode doesn’t do well with… land.” Nautica spoke up, watching Rung climb back on top of Skids’ roof.

“Mine does. You can ride on top if you want.” Velocity offered, also whirring into a very sharp three wheeled buggy.

Nautica smiled, positioning herself on Velocity. Finally, Nightbeat became his hot rod (the noun, not the mech) self, and Brainstorm turned to his jet mode.

“You need a ride, Beaters?” Brainstorm offered.

“Oh my god, what did I say about calling him that?” Nautica jokingly rubbed her temples, a grin betraying the gag.

“That it’s awful and I should stop?” Brainstorm said.

“Don’t tell him to stop, or he’ll make a conscious decision to keep doing it. Just let him forget about it.” Rung turned to face Nautica, adjusting his glasses and resisting the urge to laugh.

Still bickering, the group drove and flew off into the hills. After about an hour of driving, laughing, and joking, Brainstorm opened his commlink with Skids, Rung, and Nightbeat.

“I’m gonna go right. Tell them I saw something science-y.” Brainstorm informed them.

“Scientific. The word is-” Before Rung could finish correcting him, Brainstorm took a harsh right in the sky, disappearing over the hills.

“Where the hell’s he going?” Velocity asked.

“Said he saw something science-y.” Nightbeat answered.

“Scientific?” Nautica corrected.

“That’s what  _ I _ said.” Rung added.

“Let’s keep going.” Skids said, “He said he’d meet back up with us.”

“Why’s he telling you guys where he’s going, but not me?” Nautica looked a little hurt.

“He didn’t tell me either.” Velocity said in a comforting tone, unable to physically reassure Nautica in her buggy mode.

After another half hour, Nightbeat lit up the commlink, not excluding the girls this time, “Hey, uh, Brainstorm said he’d fly adjacent to us a few miles right, but I can’t get a read on him. Stop for a second.”

The three vehicles came to a stop, transforming back into their robot modes to regroup.

“You said he’d be flying adjacent to us. Why wouldn’t he just rejoin us? I thought you said he just got distracted.” Nautica put her hands on her hips and glared at Nightbeat, Skids, and Rung, “What’s going on? You guys aren’t telling me something.”

“They’re not telling  _ us  _ something.” Velocity put a hand protectively on Nautica’s rotor.

The other 3 froze up, exchanging nervous glances.

“Okay, fine.” Skids sighed, “Yeah, this was a setup. We really were gonna go see Enduring Point, though. We need to find Brainstorm. After we get him, we’ll explain everything.”

“Yeah, you better.” Nautica sneered, leaning into Velocity.

“Hey, Rung, ride me this time!” Nightbeat transformed, calling out to his friend.

Rung nodded, climbing on top of Nightbeat. Nautica sighed, and Velocity transformed as well, letting Nautica climb on top of her once again. The commlink between the three opened again.

“Wow, Nautica actually is mad. She’d usually get on me for a double entendre like that.” Nightbeat seemed worried.

“She’ll come around. Brainstorm’s safety is the priority here.” Skids transformed as well.

They all drove back into the wastes, following a distant spark signature that Nightbeat had finally picked up. The pulsation of the spark patterns skyrocketed on Nightbeat’s monitor.

“Brainstorm looks like he’s having a spark attack on my readings. What the fresh hell is he up to?” Nightbeat pointed out.

With a light rumbling of the ground, rocks began to be flung up into the air, fissures rumbling open. Suddenly, bright red, spiked tentacles shot up from the ground. Tangled amongst one or two of them was Brainstorm, still in his jet mode, rumbling his turbines and desperately trying to blast himself away from whatever lurked below. Velocity took a sharp turn to slow her rapid approach towards the fissure, just barely screeching her wheels in front of it. Nightbeat and Skids had an easier time slowing and leaping into robot mode. Whatever the tendrils belonged to, it definitely sensed the presence of more Cybertronians. The ground rumbled once again, almost angrily.

“This… Uh, this wasn’t in the plan.” Skids reached into subspace to find his blaster.

“Plan? What PLAN?” Nautica asked incredulously.

“Later!” Nightbeat replied, running and throwing a spare gun into Rung’s arms as he passed, skidding to a stop and shooting an explosive blast towards the tentacles that had captured Brainstorm.

The ground rumbled again, and the tentacles loosened around the jet. Brainstorm could finally blast his way away from the creature, transforming mid air to robot mode, falling to his knees in the gravel below. Nautica ran towards him, helping him to his feet. 

“I’m still mad at you.” She said, helping steadying his balance on the shifting ground.

Another blast, this time from Rung and Skids, hit the monster, and it recoiled before slamming a tendril forward, knocking Rung down so that he sank slightly into the gravel. Before Skids could run to aid him, another tendril slammed between the two, sending Skids rocketing backwards. 

Velocity studied the tentacles quickly, searching for a weakness.

“Aim as far down the tendrils as you can!” She shouted, shooting the base of one of the mighty tentacles. It reeled, and that tentacle retracted into the ground.

The group obeyed, all shooting towards the bottom of the appendages. Nightbeat dug a bit through the gravel to release Rung’s pedes and help him to stand back up.

Before they knew it, the creature decided the pain of being shot down wasn’t worth whatever it wanted with the robots, and retracted into the ground. A moment of silence fell, and then they all cheered. Nautica high fived Velocity, both wrapping their fingers around the other’s grasp. Nightbeat double checked that Skids, Brainstorm, and Rung were alright, and gave Velocity a thumbs up. After the minute of celebration riled down, Nautica stepped in front of her amicas, crossing her arms.

“Ok, so, why did we come out here and risk Brainstorm’s life?” She raised an optic ridge.

Brainstorm looked down for a moment, “Well…  We thought we’d set you two up.”

“‘You two’ as in…” Velocity began.

“You and Nautica. Neither of you really seem to know amorous from amicable (heh).” Skids finished.

Velocity and Nautica gawked for a moment, sparing only a moment’s glance towards each other. Nautica raised a finger towards Velocity. Nightbeat nodded. She then pointed towards herself. Nightbeat nodded again.

“Hey, I feel like you all may want to see this.” Rung called from the edge of the fissure.

They all shuffled over to gaze down. Deep in the fissure, with no sign of the creature in sight, the glimmering of rubies glowed from deep below. It was a night sky of glittery, red stars, all below and exposed by the prior attack. The setting sun caught the facets of each gem perfectly, and they almost seemed to emanate their own light. The light that hit the crystals caused a red aura onto the gray walls of the canyon, beautiful, crimson.

“Close enough, right?” Nightbeat joked, putting a hand on Rung’s shoulder.

Nautica lowered herself onto the ground, crouching on the edge for a better view of the ruby glittering below. Velocity came up beside her, crouching by her side. Brainstorm looked to the rest of the friend group with a soft clicking of a smile behind his faceplate. They all looked at one another, and then smiled as well. 

Not paying attention to anything but the view anymore, Nautica and Velocity looked straight down the fissure. 

And with barely a second thought, their hands rested atop each at their sides, fingers intertwined. There was nothing else in the moment but the warmth of each other’s servos, the twinkling of crystals below, and the close presence between their near-touching shoulderplates.

Nautica tried to steal a glance at Velocity, but Velocity had been trying to steal a glance herself. Their eyes met, and they couldn’t help but laugh. They laughed, and laughed, and Nautica fell backwards with her hand on her face laughing. Velocity laid back to join her in the gravel.

“Rodimus just commed, he wants to know where we are.” Rung had a finger to his audial.

He got no reply from the fembots as they continued to giggle together. He looked to Skids, Nightbeat, and Brainstorm.

They couldn’t help but laugh too.

It was moments like this that they remembered exactly why they were all friends.


	5. If Only It Were That Simple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rewind has a question for the Lost Light: Should they let Megatron join the medbay?

 

The room was dark. Whirring to life, the projector lit up the end wall of Chromedomes habsuite. Rewind was leaning against his conjunx, having just transferred the movie he spliced together onto the projector. 

**_REWIND OF LOWER PETROHEX PRESENTS…_ **

**_THE LOST LIGHT IN:_** ** _  
_****_MEGATRON THE MEDIC_**

The film fades into an image of the medbay, focused on Velocity. Overlayed in the corner is the question;  _ “Should we let Megatron be a medic?” _ . She isn’t making eye contact at first, as she is filing down her claws to a sharper point. From the relative quiet of the background, it seems Rewind caught her on her break.

“Megatron.” Velocity says, “So, we didn’t really have a war on Caminus like you guys did on Cybertron. We didn’t have a Decepticon roundup, or epic battles, or Wreckers, or anything like that. We had our academies, hot spots, and social sciences to focus on. I’ve only ever read Megatron as a sort of faceless name, always to blame for something or other. But as I’ve known him, he’s always been… Well, a friend.

He seems intent on changing his ways. I’d have no problem with him becoming a medic, I mean, he did study. He seems to know what he’s doing.”

“Velocity, he shouldn’t be entirely without fault to you. You were there when the DJD attacked us.” Rewind’s voice sounds from the camera.

Velocity widens her optics at the minibots’ namedrop of the Division, averts her gaze, and covers her mouth. There is an awkward silence, broken by Ratchet laughing in the background.

“Can I change my stance to ‘No comment’?” She finally asks.

-

Ultra Magnus is not even looking at the camera. He’s barely even acknowledging Rewind’s question. He says absolutely nothing on the matter.

-

Whirl is far too close to the camera. 

“Whirl, back up.” Rewind says.

Whirl pulls her neck back, waving a claw dismissively, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“I’m asking the crew what they think of Megatr-” Rewind began.

“Megatron! Third person after Rung and I to blame for the war. Guess you could say it was the will of god that way. I have a secret account on that one ‘Con forum, and I’ve seen a couple people calling him a ‘proper snack.’ Guess ‘Cons are way more into cannibalism than I thought. What was the question?” 

“...Should he be a medic?”

“Oh. Should Decepticons be medics? Once a ‘Con, always a ‘Con. I can barely stand Spinister and Nickel, Megatron would be a test of my willingness to remain outside of the brig. I’ve attacked enough doctors in my day. Why do ‘Cons want to eat Megatron? I know everyone’s starving after the war-”

“Whirl, I’m gonna go now.”

-

“Wait, when did Megatron get medical training?” Nickel asks.

“In the Functionist Universe.” Rewind answers.

“In the  **_what”_ **

-

Velocity has a hand offscreen on Rewind’s shoulder, “If you need to talk, I’m always here, okay?”

-

Ultra Magnus has his head in his arms on the counter of Swerve’s.

“I ask again; Does the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord think Megatron should be allowed to reintegrate into society as a medic?” Rewind asks him.

Ultra Magnus shook his head.

“Is that a no?” Rewind asks.

“Piss off.” Magnus says.

-

“Megatron nearly killed me.” Tailgate says, “I mean, it was kind of my fault, but still.”

“ _ Getaway’s _ fault, TG. We talked about-” Rewind begins.

“-Not blaming myself, I know.” Tailgate sighs, “I missed the war, myself. I’ve sat through lectures about Decepticons, yes, I’ve also pointed a gun at Megatron, but I guess I don’t understand as much as, say,  _ YOU _ do, Rewind.

I’d say yes, but… You’ve been through a lot, and you’re my friend. Being close to you makes me want to say no.”

“D’aww.”

-

“I’m sorry. I should’ve watched my language. You didn’t deserve that.” Ultra Magnus looked on the verge of tears. Swerve had been about to give him a new glass of engex, but was sort of backing away now.

-

Chromedome laughed.

“No.”

-

Three mechs are at a booth in Swerve’s. Nautica is sprawled in Skids’ lap, while Rung is sitting with his feet on the bench, leaning against the theoretician.

“Oh, no. Hell no.” Skids laughs.

“Skids, remind me, who killed Tarn and the DJD?” Nautica laughs, poking Skids in the cheek.

“Nautica, remind me, who founded the DJD?” Skids teases back.

The two get into a playful argument, poking fun and laughing.

“What about you, Rung?” Rewind asks.

Rung looks over at the camera.

“Does Primus forgive the bringer of death himself?”

Rung stares a moment, before beginning to chuckle and covering his face, turning from the camera. The frame shakes slightly as Rewind laughs as well.

“For a god, you’re not very comfortable being called such.”

-

Drift is polishing his sword.

“Well,  _ Ratchet _ said no.”

-

“Not entirely sure why you felt the need to ask me, sweetspark.” Chromedome says, “I thought my opinion was pretty solid after...”

He catches himself, and adjusts his faceplate sadly.

-

Cyclonus is speaking, but hell if anyone watching could make out what he was saying. His mouth was definitely moving, but Swerve’s was too loud to make out his low mumbles. In the back, out of focus, Whirl is playing with Tailgate as if he were an action figure, dancing him around. She’s singing, clearly making up the words as she goes.

Every few moments, you can hear Rewind asking; “What?”

Finally, Cyclonus pinches the bridge of his nose, and speaks up.

“Turn the camera off, Rewind.”

-

“Mate, if you weren’t my amica’s conjunx, I’d literally punch you in the face for asking me that.” Brainstorm says.

-

Velocity has her chin in her hand.

“Rewind, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, when do you… Erm, at what point do you give someone a vial of innermost energon?”

-

_ “First time you feel it, it mi~ight make you sad,”  _ Tailgate is drunkenly singing, “ _ Next time you feel it, it mi~ight make you mad- _ Wait, what was the question again?”

-

“I mean it, Rewind. I don’t care how small you are.” Brainstorm punches his hand.

-

“Hypothetically, of course.” Velocity waves her hands defensively, “I mean, I gave some when we thought Thunderclash was dying…”

-

“You’re really lucky.” Nautica says, “To have someone who loves you so much. I don’t think I have that many people I’d punch Overlord in the face for.”

-

“...But I mean, in… a sparkmate sense.” Velocity finishes.

-

“Drift, I asked what you think.”

“Ratchet said no.”

_ “Drift,” _

-

“Rewind, stop the movie.”

The projector whirred to a stop, freezing on a frame of Nickel with a curly straw sticking out of her mouth. The large, hulking figure to the left of Rewind stood up, turning away from the two of them.

“I believe I’ve taken the hint.” He said, clicking open Chromedome’s door.

A moment passed, and Rewind heard the clunk of a fusion cannon that didn’t quite fit knocking against the doorframe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a filler chapter thing i had fun with


	6. Talls and Smalls, And How All That Works Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An annual meeting of the Minibots takes place, and elsewhere, their sparkmates (or "close friends") try and reconcile differences for the sake of their beloveds.  
> MINICHAPTER

Many bots were thankful that there was more than one bar on board the Lost Light.

At Swerve’s, the minibots would gather and bicker.

And at Visage’s, their respective sparkmates would awkwardly try and become better acquainted.

Lost Lighters knew to clear either premises once this happened.

On this rarest of nights, it happened at the same time. 

 

Swerve’s, after hours.

Three drinks down the bottle, Tailgate and Rewind were hunched over the bar together. Swerve was drunkenly trying to mix a Lonely Cybertronian for himself, Lug was in her alt mode on the floor, and Nickel was revelling in the sweet taste of filtered energon.

“Have I ever told you how much I-..Rewind.” Tailgate poked Rewind, “Have I. Ever told you… How much… Good-Have I ever told you, how you’re a good person?”

“All the time.” Rewind finally lifted his head from the bar, “Teegs… Tee-Gee… Teej… Have I ever told YOoouUuu… How… Uhhhh…. How cute you are?”

Swerve leaned over the bar, “H-hic-hhhow about, you’re both cute.”

“No fucking way.” Tailgate said.

Swerve nodded.

Rewind clumsily bumped his faceplate against Tailgate’s, then collapsed into his friend’s arms. Swerve went around the counter to join the conglomerate of drunken, amorous minibots.

Nickel scooched her chair a bit farther in the opposite direction.

“...I presume the floor is very interesting.” She asked, looking towards Lug.

“I’m hiding. The mechs can’t see me if I don’t move.” Lug replied, “They cause chaos and steal the hearts of every bot in their path. They’re a polycule. A polytechnical molecule. And that molecule is Arsenic.”

“Sounds horrible.” Nickel smirked, “Are you sure it’s not because you’re absolutely Star Sabered?”

“That too. What was it that Flame said? Scorponoked? I’m Scorponoked.” Lug half transformed, freeing her arms to wave dismissively.

“You’re Scorponoked? Congratulations, how far along are you?” Nickel couldn’t help but laugh at her own joke.

“Are you implying I’m pregnant?” Lug fully transformed.

“Well, because… Scorponok, he… Oh god, you weren’t even there for that.” Nickel smiled in horror, “Oh god. Well, I just dug myself a hole.”

“Giiiirrrlllsss!” Rewind slurred from across the bar, “We’re gonna-We-We’re gonna… We’re gonna-Swerve’s habsuite!”

“Have fun.” Nickel said.

“Are you staying here?” Tailgate asked.

“I’m-ah… I’m not...I’m...Fembots..” Lug stammered.

“She’s fembots.” Nickel echoed.

“I’m fembots.” Lug repeated as well.

Without a reply, the original three hobbled out of Swerve’s, leaving the girls in the dust.

Lug slumped over onto Nickel, groaning, “Niickeellll… I need my wife.”

“We can go find Anode.” Nickel replied.

“I need to be refueled by her sapphic energies.”

“Copy that, Baglunch.” 

Hobbling a bit, the two ladies went down the aisle. Lug said nothing of the nickname used. 

She knew it meant Nickel cared about her new friends.

Not that she’d ever admit it.

 

  
  


In Visage’s, the atmosphere was tight. Roller, Anode, Whirl, Skids, Chromedome, and Cyclonus were around one table. Tension roiled in the air. Sharp glares were shared between two mechs in particular.

“What.” Chromedome finally asked, after extensive silence.

“What?” Cyclonus barely spared a glance from his drink.

“You keep looking at me.” 

“I am doing no such thing.”

Even Whirl was silent under the brewing tensions, keeping her optic solely on her Amica. Better safe than a healthy serving of These Hands, courtesy of Chromedome.

“...We can just say it, you know. Our conjunxs are fragging each other.” Skids slapped the table, “There. Now it’s out in the air, and we can relax.”

“Mine’s not.” Anode took a cheeky sip of her drink.

“And is this a problem?” Roller quirked an optical ridge.

“No.” said Cyclonus.

“Rewind can have friends with benefits, we’ve discussed it.” said Chromedome.

“Threeways all the way.” Whirl raised up a claw to perform a faux-fist bump with Skids.

“Then, why bring it up?” Roller asked.

“Because they’re immensely insecure in their self worth that they focus disproportionately into doting on their partners, and when they’re faced with the reality that their sparkmates have an established support system and they don’t, they begin grasping at straws for any degree of relatability to their fellow Cybertronian.” Anode sipped her drink, “Just my humble opinion.”

“I don’t have a sparkmate.” Roller said, “Whirl said I should come.”

“Nickel.” Whirl beeped.

“We’re just friends.”

“Close friends?”

“Yes.”

“‘You have beautiful wheels’ friends?”

“That’s gross.” Flame interrupted, having walked from the bar to draw the table’s attention to the approaching fembots.

“MY WIFE IS HERE, EVERYONE SHUT UP.” Lug hobbled, then leapt into Anode’s arms.

“Hey Roller.” Nickel reached and laid a hand on the mech’s leg, “Wanna get out of here?”

“Definitely.” 

Slowly, the rest of the larger bots cleared out, leaving two left over.

“...Hey Flame?” Lug asked.

“Yes?”

“...Was Scorponok pregnant?”

“...That’s a crude way to put it, but-”

“Followup; was it yours?”

Flame slouched, covering his face with his hands with an unceremonious groan of exasperation. 

Lug waited for an answer.

Hours passed, and eventually she left.

Mirage found Flame in the morning.

Still in the same position.

Probably crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im stalling the velotica smut at this point  
> minichapter wooo i wrote this on ambien, benadryl, and a painkiller


End file.
